


(i can't) Enter the Darkness

by SaltySweetRen



Series: Story Ideas and Drabbles [3]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Child!Vanitas, Gen, I'll add more tags if I continue, the idea came to me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 07:41:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8970040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaltySweetRen/pseuds/SaltySweetRen
Summary: No! He reached desperately for the blade, which hovered in the air just out of reach, and getting further away as he slowly fell. No, not like this! I can't die like this, I don't want to disappear! 
Van gasped as he sat upright in bed. Stupid, it was just a dream! He was almost ten years old, he shouldn't be having nightmares like this anymore, or at least getting so scared over them!





	

_No!_ He reached desperately for the blade, which hovered in the air just out of reach, and getting further away as he slowly fell. _No, not like this! I can't die like this, I don't want to disappear!_ His eyelids began to feel heavy, and he had already lost feeling in his fingers.

 

_Please, no!_ His vision was going dark but he could see that weapon shattering. _No, please! I don't want to die! Not like this, please, no!_

 

"No!"

 

Van gasped as he sat upright in bed. The room was dark and for a moment, he thought he was back in that weird place in his dream dying again, but then his eyes began to adjust to the dim lighting and he started to recognize the silhouettes of the furniture in his room. _Of course, it was just a dream._

 

He groaned and flopped back onto the bed with a huff. _Stupid!_ He was almost ten years old, he shouldn't be having nightmares like this anymore, or at least getting so scared over them! Only little kids were scared of their nightmares!

 

(Sora would probably point out that Van was still a little kid himself, but Van would maintain his argument that little kids are anyone younger than six, because he was bigger than them all now.)

 

He tried to go back to sleep. Really, he did. But no amount of rolling around in bed or flopping over helped him to get comfortable enough to.

 

That was okay, though. Van liked the night anyway.

 

Quietly, so he wouldn't wake up Sora or their mom, he slipped his shoes on and snuck down the stairs. Unlike Sora, who would clomp around and trip over his own giant teenager clown feet, Van considered himself a master of stealth. He had already memorized where every creaky floor board was in the house, and his eyes would adjust well enough to the dark that he wouldn't trip over anything that had been left just lying around the house. Sora thought it was creepy that Van could get around virtually undetected, being as young as he was and all. Van just thought Sora was an idiot of a big brother who just didn't have the same talents as he did.

 

His and Sora's toy swords were leaning against the wall near the door, and he carefully picked his up without knocking Sora's over before heading outside, closing the door slowly behind him so it wouldn't make any noise. Grinning at yet another successful escape from the house, Van turned and ran down towards the beach. It was too late for him to go to the Island, and Riku hadn't shown him how exactly to row the boats anyway.

 

He'd tried once a year or so back, thinking it would be easy to do. It wasn't, and he didn't have the strength to propel himself through the water, and by the time his arms had given out he was already drifting between the mainland and the play island. Mom had been furious, Sora was almost panicking, and Riku had been the one to row out and tow him and the boat he was in back to shore. Van had been grounded for a long time after that, but Riku had promised that when Van was ten, he'd teach him how to row like the rest of them at that age.

 

"Of course," Riku had said, "you'll have to start building up your stamina so you don't get stranded out in the ocean again." So, when Van was no longer grounded, Riku and Sora began to include Van in their training. It mostly consisted of play-fighting, of course, but there was a lot of skill involved. Since they were brothers, Riku had suggested that Van try to copy Sora's way of fighting, but it just felt weird to Van. Riku's stance felt a lot more natural to him, just with a couple of adjustments to where his feet were positioned and how he held his free hand.

 

Van had improved a lot since then, but so had Sora and Riku. They both went easy on him, he could tell when he saw them fighting each other. At least Riku didn't talk down to him, though, which Van was glad about. And it was Riku's idea for him to come down to the beach or some other open area to practice on his own.

 

For a moment, Van closed his eyes, breathing in the salty sea air. It always smelled better at night, he thought. _Everything_ was better at night. It wasn't too bright and it wasn't too hot and the sun wasn't out to burn his too pale skin. The moon turned the sand to a nice silver-white color and stars would reflect in the ocean and it was just… nice. Calming, even. So what if he liked the night more than the day? It was just better, okay? And no, he wasn't a vampire or anything like Sora teased him about.

 

He took a deep breath with his eyes still closed. He tightened his grip on the toy sword, trying to imagine an enemy to fight. Then, with a yell, he jumped at his invisible foe with a downward swing. In his mind's eye, the enemy staggered backwards, so he launched into a long string of attacks before jumping back and raising his sword to block an imaginary attack, like he'd seen Riku do before. When he figured his enemy would be tired of him blocking, he jumped back into the fight. Counters were important too, though. He couldn't go thinking he'd never get hit. He'd seen the way Riku would counter Sora, and it looked really effective, even if it seemed tricky. So far, Van hadn't been able to replicate it, but it was worth a shot.

 

Van jumped backwards, pretending he had been hit, and landed on his back. _Oof!_ Okay, maybe it was a counter for a reason. At least the sand had cushioned him. Now, how was he supposed to pull this off? He swung his legs up in the air, trying to bring them over his shoulder. Nope, he didn't get enough momentum and they fell right back into the ground. _One more time!_ He swung his legs again. Maybe he didn't need to bring them all the way back? He thrust them forward, hoping his momentum would get him back on his feet. His back slid across the sand an inch or so, but his legs flopped to the ground again. "Aaargh!" He gritted his teeth and kicked his legs in frustration.

 

"Giving up already? That doesn't sound like you at all, Van."

 

Van quickly sat up, turning to the silver-haired boy that was watching him a few feet away with an amused look on his face. "Riku!" He jumped to his feet, brushing the sand off his hoodie. "W-What are you doing here?! It's late, isn't it?"

 

Riku shrugged. "I could ask you the same thing, you know," he said. "I've just been too excited to sleep lately."

 

"Excited?" Van pondered for a moment, wondering what could make Riku, of all people, so anxious that he couldn't sleep. Then he remembered. "Oh… You and Sora and Kairi are going away in a few days…" _And you're leaving me behind._

 

"I guess Sora told you about that, huh?" Riku walked past Van to the water's edge. "You know we'd bring you too, if we could. But-"

 

"I know, I know." Van kicked at the sand with a scowl on his face. "I'm too young, I get it."

 

"It's not just that," said Riku. "We don't know what other worlds will be like. For all we know, they're dangerous. We'd protect you of course, but, well, Sora didn't want to risk it."

 

That was news to him. "So it's Sora's fault?!"

 

"Er… Kind of?" Riku winced.

 

"Augh!" Van flopped back onto the sand. "It's not fair! Sora's dumb! He's an idiot!"

 

"Well, yeah, your brother is really dense," said Riku with a smirk, "but he's also mine and Kairi's best friend. And since we're doing because of Kairi, we have to listen when she says she doesn't want to leave Sora behind."

 

"It's not fair," Van repeated, sitting back up with a huff. "Are you guys gonna come back?"

 

Riku shrugged. "I dunno. I mean, we don't know how long it could take us to travel to all those different worlds and back."

 

Van bit his lip, looking away. "But… You promised you'd be the one to teach me to row out to the islands. You're supposed to help me learn to fight."

 

"I know. But I made another promise too."

 

"To Sora and Kairi?"

 

Riku hesitated before nodding his head. "Listen, Van. You can find someone else to teach you those things if I- if we're not back by then. Like Tidus, or Wakka."

 

"So you think you won't come back by then." Van glared at the silver-haired boy, balling his hands into fists. "You're all leaving me behind!"

 

"Van, I told it it wasn't my ide-"

 

"I don't care!" Van cut Riku off and shoved the teen. "You're all idiots! All of you! I hate you guys!" Ignoring Riku's protests, he picked up his wooden sword and ran home. He didn't care anymore if he woke everyone up by slamming the door behind him. He was home now, so what did it matter?

 

His noise must have woken Sora up, because when he reached the top of the stairs he was in the doorway of his bedroom, rubbing his eyes. "Van..? What's…?"

 

Van punched him in the stomach. "You're all idiots," he shouted. "I hate you, Sora! I hate all of you!"

 

"Wait- Van, what?"

 

"What is going on out here, boys?"

 

The brothers both turned to see their mom looking at them with a stern expression. Van couldn't deal with this. Riku was an idiot that was abandoning him and breaking his promises, and Sora was an even bigger idiot, and now Mom was giving him "the look." This was too much.

 

Mumbling another "I hate you" under his breath, Van ran back into his room and slammed the door behind himself, locking it.

 

He ignored his mom knocking on the door. If she wanted to come in, she could just unlock it. He ignored Sora asking what was wrong from outside the door. He just wanted to go back to sleep and pretend his conversation with Riku had never happened.

 

He welcomed the nightmares that came when he went back to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure where the plot bunny came from, but I'm sure it was at least partially inspired by a fic I read a while back called Heart and Soul. Honestly, I just wanted to see Sora and Vanitas as brothers somehow, and this idea was born.
> 
> I've got a lot of ideas for this story, too. Of course, I said that about my fic Treasured Memories too, and right now I don't have the inspiration to continue it. But as long as I have the inspiration for this story, I'll try to continue.


End file.
